Srinagar, Nov 28: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah on Tuesday praised Governor Satya Pal Malik ‘for refusing the dictation from New Delhi and stopping BJP and its proxies to form government in J&K by dissolving the state Assembly’.
The top leaders of two main regional parties and former chief ministers were reacting to Mr Malik’s alleged remark that Sajad Lone would have become chief minister of the state had he sought the opinion of New Delhi before dissolving the legislative Assembly.
“I really don’t know what to make of Governor Sb revelations in Gwalior. We know the BJP & it’s proxies were desperate to form a government through horse trading & use of money but we’ve also never known a politically appointed governor going against the wishes of the centre,” Mr Abdullah wrote on micro-blogging site twitter.
“My compliments to Governor Malik for not looking to Delhi & for not taking their instructions thereby stopping the installation of a government of the BJP & its proxies formed by horse trading, defections & use of money,” he further wrote.
Meanwhile, Ms Mehbooba taking to twitter, wrote, “Leaving aside the fax machine fiasco, good to see that governor Sb refused to take dictation from Delhi, rather opted for dissolution of assembly. This could be unprecedented, given the story of democracy in the state.”
“I want to make it clear once again. If I had looked at Delhi, I would have had to make a government of Lone; I would have been known in the history as a dishonest man,” the Governor reportedly said in an address to the students at a university function in Gwalior.
The Governor unexpectedly dissolved the state Assembly shortly after rival political combines — NC, PDP and Congress — hinted that they would stake their claims to power. Ms Mehbooba last week released a letter on Twitter announcing that she would stake claim to form the government with her traditional rival, NC, and Congress. The PDP president’s letter was followed by People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone’s letter to the Governor on WhatsApp, putting forth a similar bid.
But, the Governor dissolved the Assembly, stating that he did so because any government was unlikely to last long. “The coming together of such parties in a grouping is nothing but an attempt to gain power rather than to form a responsive government,” it said in a release.
The Governor also cited reports of “horse-trading and possible exchange of money” to get the support of legislators.
